Catholic Apostolate Center Resources

Catholic Apostolate Center
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Welcome to the Catholic Apostolate Center’s Resrouce series. Listen to these presentations, interviews, and webinars featured on the Catholic Apostolate Center’s website.

  1. 5d ago

    Proclamation of the Gospel - Encounter and Accompaniment with Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C.: Son Rise Morning Show 06/24/2026

    Access Collaboration in Ministry resources On Mission: Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More episodes about Living as Missionary Disciples From the Ad Infinitum blog: Laborers in the Vineyard Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More blogs about Collaboration Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    11 min

  2. Jun 23

    Summertime Spirituality

    Summertime typically offers a more relaxes schedule and opportunities to break from the routine. This season should also be a time to deepen one’s faith and grow in love and relationship with Christ, finding that balance between work and leisure. This blogcast explores “Summertime Spirituality" from the Ad Infinitum blog, written by Erin Donn and read by Fatima Monterrubio Cruess. It seems that there is something innate in our yearning for summer. As a child and student, I longed for the last day of school when I could trade in my early morning alarms and textbooks for sleeping in and spending time with friends. While summers in adulthood do not usher in quite the same change of schedule or freedom from responsibilities, I nonetheless eagerly await them. What is it that stirs this desire for summertime within us? What lessons of summertime can we bring into our spiritual lives? In the bustle of daily life it can be hard to find time for any rest, let alone that which truly restores and invigorates us. It is good that we work and labor, but we were not created for that alone. Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) We can find this rest firstly in times of silence and prayer with our Lord. And, I think we can also find it in the long days of summer. The extra hours of sunlight or the extra days of vacation provide opportunities to lay our burdens of busyness down at the Lord’s feet. Far from eschewing or running away from responsibilities, these times of rest create opportunities to live out the rhythm of work and rest God desires for us.  If summer affords you a bit more time to slow down, take some of these moments to reflect on how you can reorder your days to find a balance of work and rest to live throughout the year. How is the Lord calling you to deeper rest this summer? For many people the shorter, colder days of winter can be difficult to endure. The desire for the  light of summer is tinged with a spiritual longing for a reprieve from the dreariness of winter. We can lift our faces to the sun after months of bundling up and hunching our shoulders against the cold. As composites of body and soul, these changes in the seasons do not just affect our activities, but translate to our emotional and spiritual lives too. While winter may have lent itself to a quiet reflectiveness or melancholy, the light of summer can incline our spirits towards a renewed levity. Even in the heaviest days of winter we know that summer will indeed come; just as in the heavy days of life we know that Christ’s promises of joy will be fulfilled.  Have you noticed that your mood or prayer shifts with the seasons? What hopes are you bringing from the winter depths into this new season of light and warmth? In all the seasons we experience, whether naturally or interiorly, we are invited to praise and give thanks to God: a task we all know is easier said than done. One beauty of warm, sunny days is that they make that praise a bit easier to offer. It seems to me that we do not have to look quite as far to find joy as we may in the colder months. Summer wells up in us an awareness of God’s goodness. We can simply listen to the waves crashing at the beach, take in a perfect summer sunset, or revel in an afternoon spent outside with good friends. While the earth sings its summer song to the Lord, we can sing our song to Him too (see Psalm 96).  As we continue through the summer months, take time to slow down and praise God in the goodness of the season. In what splendors of summer do you receive God’s love and glimpse His care for you? Despite all our longings for summer, it can often feel like it slips by too fast. This summer, which only just began seven days ago, I invite you to slow down and rest, shed the layers of life that can weigh us down, and open your heart to notice and receive all the goodness the Lord has in store for you in this season.   Author: Erin Donn serves as the parish missionary at Immaculate Conception Church in Washington, DC.   Resources: Listen to On Mission podcast Catholic Feast Days App Read the Ad Infinitum blog   Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    6 min

  3. Jun 17

    The Church's Missionary Transformation with Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C.: Son Rise Morning Show 06/17/2026

    Access Collaboration in Ministry resources On Mission: Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More episodes about Living as Missionary Disciples From the Ad Infinitum blog: Laborers in the Vineyard Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More blogs about Collaboration Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    10 min
  4. Relying on Jesus

    Jun 9

    Relying on Jesus

    Jesus is reliable and trust worthy. As God, he knows us better than we know ourselves and will always provide what we need and will draw us closer to himself. This blogcast explores “Relying on Jesus" from the Ad Infinitum blog, written and read by Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. God provides. Relying on Jesus means that we trust that God provides. Provides what? Not everything we want, the way we want it, and when we want it. No, God provides what we need, the way we need it, and when we need it, even if we cannot see it at the time. Living life for a length of time often teaches us to see and trust in this way. The alternative is simply reliance on self which can lead to bitterness and damage to ourselves and others. Relying on Jesus means that we trust that he, as God, is working 100%, offering us the grace to persevere, even during times of great challenge. He laid down his life for us on the Cross, so that we might experience the fullness of God providing for us, the opportunity for Eternal Life. We are called to trust in God who provides. While presented here as seemingly simple, it is not. We like to feel as if we are in control of our lives and destiny. It is hard to surrender ourselves to Christ and rely on him. Faith gives us the ability to do it. The charity of Christ offers us the grace of faith, since God always wills our good in ways that we often do not expect or imagine. God provides. Let us rely on Jesus Christ. May the charity of Christ urge us on!   Author: Fr. Frank S. Donio, S.A.C., D.Min. is Founding Director of the Catholic Apostolate Center and a member of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottine Fathers and Brothers). He is also Executive Director of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men of the United States (CMSM).   Resources: Listen to weekly reflections by Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. Resources on Prayer and Catechesis Browse the Saints and Feast Day Site Read the Ad Infinitum blog Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    3 min

  5. May 27

    Living Pentecost Today with Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C.: Son Rise Morning Show 05/27/2025

    We currently live in the age of the Church after Pentecost where we are called to be missionary disciples and spread the Good News to the end of the earth. Listen to Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C share more in this segment of the Son Rise Morning Show on Sacred Heart Radio, about our role as apostles in our daily lives. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church where the Apostles, endowed with the Holy Spirit, began professing Jesus Christ and helping people encounter him. That continues to this day in our daily lives where we are called to go forth for Christ on mission.  “A second point is that the Spirit of the risen One is the Spirit of mission: “As the Father has sent me,” says the Lord, “so I send you” (Jn 20:21). We are consequently drawn into Jesus’ mission, the mission of the one who proceeds from God and returns to God through the power of the Spirit — who in turn proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is worshiped and glorified with them as one God. The Holy Spirit is the living charity of Christ that fills us, spurs us on and sustains us in our mission (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). While bestowing on the Apostles the power to preach (cf. Acts 2:4), the same Spirit teaches humanity the word of salvation. Now that the Apostles have received the breath of the risen One within themselves, this proclamation pours from their lips, borne by the voice of Peter and of those who are with him. On the very day of Pentecost, the Apostles began to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen. In other words, the “mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11) are summed up in redemption, which begins with faith. Indeed, the first work of the Holy Spirit in us is the faith with which we profess: “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Cor 12:3). This faith lives and is expressed in every good deed, in every act of mercy and virtue. The work of God, therefore, is each one of us, who came here today from all parts of the world, invited to the Lord’s table, gathered to listen to his word and called to bear witness to it everywhere.” Pope Leo Pentecost Homily: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260524-pentecoste.html   Notes: Access Missionary Disciple Resources On Mission: Cenacle Spirituality More episodes about Living as Missionary Disciples   From the Ad Infinitum blog: Laborers in the Vineyard From Encounter to Action More blogs about Living as Missionary Disciples Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    11 min
  6. St. Justin Martyr’s Lessons in Christianity

    May 26

    St. Justin Martyr’s Lessons in Christianity

    Saint Justin Martyr, an early Christian apologist, is best known for his First Apology, which documents Christian worship and beliefs in the first century. This blogcast explores “St. Justin Martyr’s Lessons in Christianity" from the Ad Infinitum blog, written by Erin Donn and read by Brian Rhude. Have you ever considered what it would have been like to be a member of the Church in the first few centuries? Jesus would have been fresh in peoples’ memories, but the rich Christian tradition we have today would have only just been taking shape. Those early followers of Christ would have been interpreting what Jesus’ teachings meant and figuring out how to live them out in their daily lives, both individually and communally. It was in this context that St. Justin Martyr, an early Christian convert and apologist who lived in modern day Israel from about 100-165 AD, lived. St. Justin is well known for his First Apology, which he wrote to the Roman emperor, Antoninus Titus, as a defense and explanation of Christianity. This text not only gives us insight to what it was like when the Church was taking shape, but it also provides a rich insight into how we can live as Christians to this day. 1) Being Christians in name and deed St. Justin knew as well as anyone today that it is much easier to say you are a Christian than it is to truly live as one. He wanted the emperor to truly understand what Christianity was and Who it was founded upon, to not base his opinions on the popular zeitgeist: “For from a name neither praise nor punishment could reasonably spring, unless something excellent or base in action be proved.” (Ch. IV) For us today, we live in a world where the name “Christian” can carry so many different connotations. It depends on each of us to “prove something excellent” in our actions. Besides claiming the name Christian, are we living and worshiping in a way that reflects this privileged name? 2) How to live as Christians Whether Christians in the first century or in the 21st century, we are called to live for God and His eternal kingdom above all else. With his eyes focused on Heaven, St. Justin was able to accept persecutions because he understood that his earthly life was temporary. He encouraged others to “imitate the excellences which reside in [God], temperance, and justice, and philanthropy.” (Ch. X) Rather than the material offerings sacrificed at the time, St. Justin wanted to make an offering of his life by setting aside his own will and taking up God’s ways. Rather than imitating the pagan gods, he wanted to become deified by “living near to God in holiness and virtue.” (Ch. XXIII) While our settings may be different today, we can still practice the patience, love, and charity towards others that St. Justin encouraged. 3) Christian Community Throughout the Apology, St. Justin is not just preaching about individual Christians, but the whole Christian community. From the beginning, the necessity of community was always understood. It was through one another that they would receive the faith, be converted, and persevere in the faith. Rather than worship alone, the early Christians understood the need to come together. The faithful would gather to offer prayers for one another to be “found good citizens and keepers of the commandments.” (Ch LXV) They would celebrate the Eucharist in remembrance of Christ’s passion and for their own nourishment. They would collect money to be distributed for the needs among them. Rather than seeing this early form of the Mass as a Sunday obligation, it was the fitting response to their new life in Christ. We too can embrace this view of community as the place we offer God fitting worship and truly practice our faith. While today most of us are blessed to not fear extreme persecution or martyrdom, we do still have the freedom and responsibility to make the choice for God and the good daily. Through the intercession of St. Justin, may we be strengthened to boldly profess and live out our faith.   Author: Erin Donn serves as the parish missionary at Immaculate Conception Church in Washington, DC.   Resources: Listen to On Mission: The Saints Resources on the Eucharistic Revival Browse the Saints and Feast Day Site Read the Ad Infinitum blog Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    5 min

  7. May 20

    Co-Responsibility in Parish Pastoral Councils with Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C.: Son Rise Morning Show 05/20/2025

    Co-responsibility means that the members of the parish pastoral council share in the evangelization efforts of the Church. Parish pastoral councils allow a collaboration between the pastor and the people of the parish to generate effective ministry to the community. Listen to Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C share more in this segment of the Son Rise Morning Show on Sacred Heart Radio, about parish pastoral councils. “Consensus is not the practice of negotiation, or compromise, or coming around to Father's way of thinking. Good consensus as practiced by a parish council is the fruit of prayer, discernment, and discussion. It is the mark of fidelity of a community committed to responding to the movement of the Spirit within the community.” ~ Dr. Susan Timoney in In Service to the Parish and Church: A Formation Series for Parish Pastoral Councils. Parish pastoral councils are a consultative body in a Catholic parish that advises the pastor on pastoral matters, helping to plan, coordinate, and review activities related to the parish's mission, such as evangelization, worship, and service. It acts as a representative body, assisting in setting goals and fostering unity, ensuring the parish responds effectively to the needs of its community. As part of its renewal to the Church, the Council called for a number of new structures to promote active involvement and collaboration in the mission of the Church. After the Council, a new structure was proposed by the Church to call forth in an orderly fashion the insights and cooperation of persons at the level of the local community. That structure is the parish pastoral council. The rationale for the parish pastoral council may be found in the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: “By reason of the knowledge, competence, or pre-eminence which they have, the laity are empowered indeed sometimes obliged to manifest their opinion on those things which pertain to the good of the Church. If the occasion should arise this should be done through the institutions established by the Church for that purpose and always with truth, courage and prudence and with reverence and charity towards those who, by reason of their office represent the person of Christ.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church)   Notes: Access Collaboration in Ministry resources On Mission: Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More episodes about Living as Missionary Disciples   From the Ad Infinitum blog: Laborers in the Vineyard Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More blogs about Collaboration Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    8 min

  8. May 13

    Art of Consensus in Parish Pastoral Councils with Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C.: Son Rise Morning Show 05/13/2025

    Consensus of the parish pastoral council permits greater discernment of God’s will. Parish pastoral councils allow a collaboration between the pastor and the people of the parish to generate effective ministry to the community. Listen to Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C share more in this segment of the Son Rise Morning Show on Sacred Heart Radio, about parish pastoral councils. “Consensus is not the practice of negotiation, or compromise, or coming around to Father's way of thinking. Good consensus as practiced by a parish council is the fruit of prayer, discernment, and discussion. It is the mark of fidelity of a community committed to responding to the movement of the Spirit within the community.” ~ Dr. Susan Timoney in In Service to the Parish and Church: A Formation Series for Parish Pastoral Councils. Parish pastoral councils are a consultative body in a Catholic parish that advises the pastor on pastoral matters, helping to plan, coordinate, and review activities related to the parish's mission, such as evangelization, worship, and service. It acts as a representative body, assisting in setting goals and fostering unity, ensuring the parish responds effectively to the needs of its community. As part of its renewal to the Church, the Council called for a number of new structures to promote active involvement and collaboration in the mission of the Church. After the Council, a new structure was proposed by the Church to call forth in an orderly fashion the insights and cooperation of persons at the level of the local community. That structure is the parish pastoral council. The rationale for the parish pastoral council may be found in the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: “By reason of the knowledge, competence, or pre-eminence which they have, the laity are empowered indeed sometimes obliged to manifest their opinion on those things which pertain to the good of the Church. If the occasion should arise this should be done through the institutions established by the Church for that purpose and always with truth, courage and prudence and with reverence and charity towards those who, by reason of their office represent the person of Christ.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church)   Notes: Access Collaboration in Ministry resources On Mission: Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More episodes about Living as Missionary Disciples   From the Ad Infinitum blog: Laborers in the Vineyard Collaboration and Co-Responsibility More blogs about Collaboration Follow us: The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify  Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. also appears on the podcast, On Mission, which is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center and you can also listen to his weekly Sunday Gospel reflections. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources.

    10 min
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Welcome to the Catholic Apostolate Center’s Resrouce series. Listen to these presentations, interviews, and webinars featured on the Catholic Apostolate Center’s website.

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